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Medical bills

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Used to live in Vegas

I’ve had a rough medical year. I fell and broke my wrist and needed surgery to put in two pins. Then I developed an infection in the arm/wrist. Finally got that all cleared up but then I developed carpal tunnel in the same hand. Back in for another surgery for that. The tips of the fingers are still partially numb two months later.

So they tell me before the surgery, some people get instant relief and others it may take a month or two for the nerve to grow back. So now I go see the doctor and say it’s no better and he says in some cases, it could take as long as a year! WTF!!

Now for the quasi good news. I maxed out my $5,000 deductible on the first surgery. Today I received the hospital-only bill for the carpal surgery. $12,600! My out of pocket is $309.

I’m sure there will be a surgeon bill coming soon.

Not whining, but medical costs in this country are just out of control. 17 months to Medicare, but with all the supplemental insurance you need to purchase to cover your ass, the premiums will be about equal, but much lower out of pocket for bills. No wonder one of the big factors of bankruptcy in this country is medical bills.

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Junior Member

Joe, sorry for the tough times you experienced with your wrist and the medical community.

There was a special on FOX news channel last Saturday night and it said that the third leading cause of death in our country behind heart disease and cancer is medical malpractice. It stated that 70% of surgical teams do not even wash their hands before surgery. This leads to infections.

The medical community can do wonderful things, but they can do serious damage too...
Most often and sadly it is just a giant lucrative business with astronomical costs for everything.

And aside from medical mistakes, there are millions of medical billing errors too. There are thousands of medical codes and these are inputed by often incompetent people. I've had surgeries 5 years ago and 2 years ago and the flood of medical bills that came afterwards was unbelievable. There were so many errors and inaccurate copays for my parts of the bills. Also double billing.

Money rules in the medical and pharmacutical fields. Even with insurance the copays are out of sight. Add the insurance premiums and the copays and it is a lot of money. This too divides society even more. Who can afford it and who can't.

Joe, do your best to heal and just grin and bear the expense part. We ain't got much choice !!!!!
We're better off when we need new tires or a car battery. That's much simpler to deal with.....Best of luck Joe...

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Member

I hear you. I work in a hospital and we are self insured. Over the last 6 years our premiums and copays have sky rocketed. Thanks to Obama Care-- Don't want to start a WWF throw down match but for many the Affordable Health Care Act is not so much. I live in a small town with one hospital. If I choose to use a different hospital they are out of network and the % of payment is even less. If I get a CT scan at my hospital my out of pocket expense is going to be around $3000 if I gave not met my $7000 deductible. I can travel 1 hour away to a stand alone Radiological group and pay $400 cash for the same exam. I have friends that can't get physical therapy because they want $400 a session prepaid. That is with my insurance and at our hospital. We can go to an out of network and pay cash for $100 a session.

I am currently fighting my ER bill from last month. I had a severe intestinal infection and abdominal pain. Medical coders coded it as nonemergent. So instead of paying $300 they want me to pay $3000.

A lot of people don't realize they can protest and appeal. you can pay monthly for ever how long it takes to pay it off.

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Junior Member

Premium Member

Sorry to hear of the ailments Joe... sure illustrates the value of good insurance and agreed on the "out of control" costs! Of course, when "The" Donald is elected and we stop over-regulating health-care companies and can buy insurance across state-lines, all our worries will be over and we can return to taking our country back!!!

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Opening the Champagne

Founder's Club

A big issue with medical costs -- any political issues aside -- is there is no genuine market for the services and products. Hospitals charge whatever they want. Doctors do the same. It's all basically this fiction they make up. There's no competition and no need to price in relation to any reality. It's stupid and wasteful.

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PUSH THE BUTTON

Founder's Club

A big issue with medical costs -- any political issues aside -- is there is no genuine market for the services and products. Hospitals charge whatever they want. Doctors do the same. It's all basically this fiction they make up. There's no competition and no need to price in relation to any reality. It's stupid and wasteful.

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